Swakeleys — Restaurant in London

🚇 Goldhawk Road 🍺 £4.95 Carlsberg

O'Donoghue’s is located halfway down Goldhawk Road in Shepherd’s Bush, West London. The nearest Tube is Goldhawk Road.

Built in 1874, this pub started life as The Swakeley Hotel, later becoming The Swakeley Arms. The pub has been known as O'Donoghue’s for some time now, it had a brief stint as a live music pub and a gamers bar but reverted back to O'Donoghue’s.

This is a sizeable two bar pub which although has traditional features, it felt quite modern. The front bar has the servery located at the back right with a fielded panelled front. Around the walls are Georgian style panels which are painted sage green. The seating consists of poser tables, a few sofas and stools around the bar. Other features include a fruity, a jukebox, a few large screens and some signed QPR shirts. The back bar is huge and is set up as a function room. There is a curved servery, a banquette with tables and a stage at the far end.

The beer line up is all keg with a selection of mainstream beers to choose from. I decided on a Carlsberg, my pint hit the spot, price point was reasonable at under a fiver. There is no food menu but plenty packs of crisps and nuts if you’re peckish.

We arrived just before 3pm on an overcast Saturday afternoon in November. The pub was very quiet with one other local punter in attendance. We got talking to the nice chap behind the bar who was friendly and chatty.

This once oldschool Irish pub has had to move with times, as the local Irish community has aged and dwindled. I must say, I preferred how the pub used to look, but that’s me thinking with my nostalgic head on. The beer was reasonably priced, the service friendly, the place is immaculately clean, worth a look if you’re in the area. The pub gets busy on QPR match days.

📅 9th November 2024

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If it ain't broke don't fix it. Sorry Mr new manager , we won't be back. O'donoghues for DJ Paul's Karaoke was an institution. I have always felt at home there every Friday, would bring friends, family, co- workers and even visitors from abroad telling them that this was what a real London pub should be like. Now it seems the end is near..... new management have done away with DJ Paul in favor of a new dj or something (if this is the case and if the new DJ is reading this, you need all the luck in the world and then some, DJ Paul is more than a hard act to follow). I worry about the changes this will bring, for so many regulars this night brought stability, familiarity, a place where everyone knew your name and would cheer each other on no matter how good or how bad your song went. I strongly suspect this is just the first step in taking the pub away from the locals and regulars and turning it into yet another God-awful Gastropub/ Hipster hang out. As if London needs any more of that. New Management would do well to realise that this pub served the interests of the local people and DJ Paul's Karaoke was certainly at the heart of it. Paul, where you go, we shall follow taking our money for...

Went to (what I thought ) to party 5th May 2024. The place was hot like 🔥. No air con “not working” they said BUT I’m not so sure! The bathroom was swimming in condensation, water everywhere to the point that the floor was soaking wet, the mirrors was fogged up while drips of water overhead. The locks to the doors didn’t work either.

I was in an out of the venue more times than a ducks head in a pond to try cool down and as a result, it caught up with me and I am now poorly in bed with flu like symptoms and aches all over instead of enjoy this gorgeous weather! 😤

You hiked up massively on your drink prices too from the last time, that too is unacceptable. All in all… that night broke all aspects of Health and Safety rules and based on all I’ve written of my experience, I will never go back! It felt like we didn’t matter, profits before the welfare of the customers...